Media squeezed in Thai military coup

Bangkok,
May 22, 2014--Thailand's military-led National Peace and Order Maintaining
Council today seized administrative power in a coup and ordered local broadcast
media to halt regular programming and local satellite and cable service
providers to block international news channels, according to news reports. The
Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the military-imposed censorship and
calls for an immediate and unconditional restoration of press freedom in the
country.

Army
Commander General Prayuth Chan-ocha announced the council's seizure of power
from Prime Minister Niwatthamrong Boonsongpaisan's caretaker administration at
around 4 p.m. after a meeting of opposing political groups failed to reach an agreement
on the creation of a new interim government, according to reports. The takeover
followed the army leader's invocation of martial law on Tuesday.

Local
broadcasters were forced today to stop their regular programming and instead
run still images of the new ruling junta's banner against the backdrop of
military songs, according to social media posts and CPJ research. At around 8
p.m., several international broadcasters, including the BBC, CNN, and Al-Jazeera,
were also blocked inside the country. Military-run Channel 5 was the only local
station allowed to continue broadcasting as usual, according to CPJ research.

Later
today, military officers detained Wanchai Tantiwitthayapithak, deputy director
of Thailand Public Broadcasting Service, from the newsroom after the journalist
aired news on YouTube despite the military order, according to news reports.

"Today's
military takeover represents a clear and present danger to Thailand's long-held
tradition of press freedom," said Shawn Crispin, CPJ's Southeast Asia
representative. "While the new ruling junta may believe that media censorship
is necessary to restore stability and security, suppression of news is likely
to have the opposite effect. Broadcasters and journalists should be free to
report during this pivotal political moment in Thailand."

On
Tuesday, Prayuth ordered the closure of at least 11 satellite and cable TV
stations and more than 3,000 radio stations across the country in the name of
restoring stability amid rising tension between pro- and anti-government
protest groups, according to news reports. Troops were
positioned inside the newsrooms of several local TV stations, according to
reports.

Local
reports said that military authorities, in cooperation with the state-run
National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission, had ordered more than
50 local Internet service providers to filter within one hour any news or
commentary carried on their platforms that "distort facts, instigate disorder,
or create fear and misunderstanding." The local True Corporation shuttered six
unnamed websites in line with the martial law announcements, the reports
said.